[1] The most detailed and credible study on BNP’s ESZ is the 2015 IISc report, which clearly marks highly eco-sensitive 147 villages on the park’s fringe.

In my report earlier this year, I showed that only 74 of these villages are actually included, out of which 16 are just a perfunctory extent of 100 meter.

I also identified 10 villages in a red-list- that are extremely critical buffers for the long-term conservation of the park, however excluded from the ESZ.

However, the final notification has no trace of any of these findings. This is despite the fact that IISc report had support from Karnataka Forest Department.

Critical Villages excluded fromESZ

1

Bachahalli

Not Included

2

Bantanalu

3

Bilakanakuppe

4

Chikkamukodlu

5

Elachavadi

6

Honniganahalli

7

Jangalapalya

8

Kannaikana Agrahara

9

Mallapur

10

Manjilnatha

[2] The proposed ESZ strangely extends 100-meter perfunctory zone to 9 villages at the southern end of BNP.

While 100-meter zoning for seven villages at the northern end can be defended because they are significantly urbanized and dense due to proximity to Bengaluru, please explain theground of a similar treatment to the nine below listed villages.

Villages with 100-meters ESZ at the southern end of BNP

1

Garulapura

2

Doddaguli

3

Herandyapanhalli

4

Tippuru

5

Bijhalli

6

Bommasandra

7

Hosadurga

8

Salbanni

9

Guddeveeranahosahalli

[3] The proposed ESZ may find itself legally untenable as the Supreme Court of India is currently reviewing the basis for 100-meter extent.

Finally, I stick to my argument that such a fragile buffer zone will increase conflicts between wildlife and people, as without ESZ regulations land around BNP will continue to get fragmented and developed for commercial purposes.

Lastly, MoEF&CC should encourage studies that help design ESZ specifically for urban forests like Bannerghatta National Park and Sanjay Gandhi National Park, besides 70 other protected areas that are close to cities in India.